R-Anell Housing to Pay $200,000 to Settle EEOC Sex Bias Suit; Training Included as Part of Settlement
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Thursday, August 13, 2009 |
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R-Anell
Housing Group, LLC, a manufacturer of pre-fabricated commercial
structures and custom modular homes, will pay $200,000 and provide
significant injunctive relief to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit
brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the
agency announced.
The EEOC had charged that R-Anell Housing
refused to hire Amy Hall and a class of similarly situated female
applicants because of their sex. According to the complaint, R-Anell
engaged in gender-based discriminatory hiring practices at its
Cherryville, N.C., manufacturing facility beginning as early as 2004,
and at a manufacturing facility previously operated in Denver, N.C.,
beginning as early as 2003. The EEOC further charged that R-Anell
maintains a sex-segregated workforce that has the effect of denying
female employees equal employment opportunities. According to the EEOC
court-filed complaint, R-Anell also failed to preserve applications and
personnel records as required by law. Sex discrimination violates Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
"Excluding all women – half
the population and half the talent pool – from the workplace is a
counter-intuitive business strategy and illegal," said EEOC Acting
Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. "This settlement shows the EEOC will
insist on meaningful relief for victims of such blatant sex
discrimination."
In addition to the $200,000 in back pay and
compensatory damages, the four-year consent decree resolving the case
(EEOC v. R-Anell Housing Group, LLC, Case No. 5:07-CV-00106 in U.S.
District Court for the Western District of North Carolina) includes
injunctive relief enjoining R-Anell Housing from engaging in sex
discrimination or retaliation. The consent decree also requires
recruitment and hiring efforts directed toward employing women;
anti-discrimination training; the posting of a notice about the EEOC;
preservation of applications and personnel records by the company; and
reporting by the company concerning its recruitment efforts and hiring.
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